Some Points to Watch when you Compare Medical Aids Prices
While it is reasonable to compare medical aids by their prices, it is extremely important to be quite sure that when you do so, you are actually comparing apples with apples. It helps to have some understanding of how these schemes work. Essentially, they are a specialised insurance policy which stipulate precisely what is and what is not covered. In addition, their terms and conditions will indicate the percentage of the expense for any given treatment that will be met and the maximum amount that can be claimed over a twelve month period in respect of each of the contingencies covered.
Schemes operate on a shared risk basis and must raise sufficient revenue to meet all claims. When you compare medical aids prices, variations are often due to the total membership of the scheme and its composition. A large member base of a relatively low average age and with a limited percentage of pensioners is what most schemes aim for as, statistically this tends to minimise the annual cost of meeting claims and can thus help them to keep premiums at a more affordable level.
Affordable, however, does not mean cheap, since healthcare costs within both the state-funded and private sectors are constantly increasing and different schemes tend to respond to these increases in different ways. It pays to be aware, therefore, that when you compare medical aids by price alone, not all of them will necessarily offer all of the cover that you and your family actually need.
At KeyHealth, we work hard to keep premiums down and ensure that our product range fully meets the needs of all members. By eliminating all non-core benefits, such as loyalty points, and instead focussing on minimising healthcare costs by establishing an extensive network of preferred service providers, we have developed products that are not only competitively priced, but that also offer some additional unique and very valuable medical benefits.
Included in all our products, the free “Smart Baby”, “Health Booster” and “Easy-ER” benefits should eliminate all need to compare medical aids prices.
